For 45 years Manitoba Hydro has been operating with an interim licence under The Water Power Act for the series of projects known as the Churchill River Diversion (CRD); and for the last 35 years, beginning in 1986, Hydro has operated on annual permits, known as the augmented flow program, that allow them to raise...Continue Reading
October 21, 2020 We fully stand with the Mi’kmaq Nation and the Fishermen asserting their Mi’kmaq Treaty Fishing Rights for a “Moderate Livelihood” as per the 1752 Peace and Friendship Treaty. We condemn the racist violent actions by the non-Indigenous commercial fishermen and allies, as well as the RCMP who have evidently failed to protect...Continue Reading
By Jessica Bound Hydroelectricity is currently considered to be the most important source of renewable energy in Canada, but when it’s generated by a mega-dam, it isn’t actually as “clean” or “green” a source of energy as the Canadian hydropower industry would like us to believe. Fortunately, alternatives to hydroelectricity do exist, and they are...Continue Reading
After what those who live in the region say has been more than four decades of struggle, people in northern Manitoba impacted by the Churchill River Diversion (CRD) are looking at the end of the line. After decades of seeing one-year licenses renewed by the province as they try to negotiate a way to save...Continue Reading
By Dylan Kensick The last week of August 2020, the Kis Kin Ha Ma Ki Win team travelled north to Nishichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson House) and Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake) to collaborate with the Land Guardians and to perform chemical and microbiological tests on the surrounding water systems of each community. The team first...Continue Reading
By Cliff Dano My name is Cliff Dano and I’m a summer student with Wa Ni Ska Tan about to start my second year with the Engineering Access Program at University of Manitoba. When I began my position as an Energy Alternatives Research Assistant with Wa Ni Ska Tan this past July, I immediately thought...Continue Reading
By Andrea Sutherland Companies use terms like “clean,” “green” and “environmentally-friendly” to celebrate their environmental sustainability, but without the evidence to support their claims, they are not ecological warriors; they’re greenwashing. The term “greenwashing” has been around since 1986, when environmentalist Jay Westerveld used it to describe a hotel’s effort to encourage clients to reuse towels....Continue Reading
By Michelle Daoust, Communications Kitatipithitamak Mithwayawin Kitatipithitamak Mithwayawin: Indigenous-Led Planning and Responses to COVID-19 and other Pandemics, Then, Now, and into the Future, better known as COVID-19 Indigenous, is a research project that received full funding from the CIHR Rapid Research call for Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The call was made by the Canadian Institute of Health...Continue Reading
By Mathew Scammell, Research Facilitator Here at Wa Ni Ska Tan, our work has definitely been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but we have done our best to remain engaged and committed to working alongside community and research partners despite the recent changes. University policies have prohibited most of us from having access to our...Continue Reading
